Use of a block hand phantom for mobile phone Specific Absorption Rate measurements

Recent studies have shown when using a mobile phone in the talk position, the spatially averaged Specific Absorption Rate (psSAR) inside the head may increase due to the hand. As a result, the use of an anatomically correct hand phantom has already been proposed for psSAR compliance testing. This paper investigates an alternate solution which is more flexible and easier to implement. We test the hypothesis that a dielectric slab placed at the back of the phone during psSAR measurements may provide an acceptable conservative estimate. Measurements conducted on thirteen phones show that different size dielectric slabs can increase the psSAR but may not be representative of the large variations caused by a real hand.